Ecco The Dolphin CD

Ecco the Dolphin is a series of action-adventure video games developed by Appaloosa Interactive (previously known as Novotrade International) and published by Sega. They were originally developed for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Dreamcast video game consoles, and have been ported to numerous systems. The story follows the eponymous Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin, who fights extraterrestrial threats to the world. The games are known for their high difficulty level. Ecco was created by Ed Annunziata, who also produced Chakan: The Forever Man.

Storylines and ports
The Ecco the Dolphin games can be divided into two distinct storylines: the Mega Drive/Genesis games (Ecco the Dolphin, Ecco: The Tides of Time, and Ecco Jr.) and the Dreamcast game (Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future).

Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco: The Tides of Time were both re-released for the Sega CD, Master System and Game Gear, and Defender of the Future was originally released for the Dreamcast and later re-released for the PlayStation 2. The Sega CD version of Ecco the Dolphin was ported to Microsoft Windows in 1995. Ecco the Dolphin was also re-released on the Game Boy Advance as part of the fourth Sega Smash Pack. All of the Mega Drive games have been released on Valve’s Steam platform, as well as being ported to Nintendo’s Virtual Console and the first game was ported to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade.

Two six-part comic book series of Ecco the Dolphin stories based on the first game were featured in Sonic the Comic. Series one was written by Woodrow Phoenix and drawn by Chris Webster in 1993. Series two followed in 1995. Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog series later featured a Dolphin character named Echo thought to be a tribute to this series, though this character was humanoid and female.